Beware the mighty termite: How safe is your house?

It's definitely not a nice feeling to return home after a holiday and notice blistering in the paintwork on the timber wall panelling of your house.
We've learnt that blistering paint is a classic tell-tale sign of a termite invasion.
The next bad feeling comes when the trail disappears into the ceiling!

We live in an old timber Queenslander in Longreach and this is the second time in twelve months we've noticed termites munching our house.

Barry Kamerling is a local pest management technician and said this is not unusual at the moment.

"The last two years since we've had all that rain, they've really kicked off.

"[The termites] have got enough moisture in the ground now so they can get out about and have parties in people's houses," he said.

Even though the termite activity has slowed with the cooler winter temperatures, Mr Kamerling advices people to be extra vigilant to check for the tell tale signs if you have timber in your house.

He said you need to look out for blistering paintwork and little mud trails up the walls.

"But the main thing with the house, try not to have any gardens or sleepers or anything to close to the house which will start attracting them."

Fortunately for us we've been able to spot the invasion and get it treated before major damage occurred but Mr Kamerling said in the summer months when the termites are most active they can take out a standard size house in a couple of months.

"In the cooler months they don't work as much, but in summer, if the big termites (Mastotermes darwinensis) get into a standard size house; in three to three and a half months you may as well put a bull dozer through it."

He said the smaller termites that were appearing in our house are called Coptotermes (Coptotermes acinaciformes) and said they do seem to take a bit longer to completely destroy a house, but there's usually a lot more of them.

"So there are little bites but a lot more of them; sometimes they can do the same amount of damage in the same time."

Mr Kamerling said a lot of people don't know they've got termites until they go to wash the wall or lean on the wall and fall through it.

"There was one house at Blackall, they thought they had a mouldy spot in the gyprock so they went to wash it and it was termites eating the gyprock."

He said if you spot something that looks like it might be a termite invasion, it's important not to disturb it before you get an expert into investigate.

Fortunately treatment is relatively straight-forward once the termites are tracked to the entrance point on the house.

He said the chemical travels with the termites back to the nest and it will take the nest out.

"Sometimes some species have got like the main nest and they'll have 20 or 30 sub nests, so it will take months and months if not years to take that whole colony right out," he explained.

So are new houses without timber cladding and walls still vulnerable to termites?

Mr Kamerling said just about anything's vulnerable for termites but newer houses now have termite barriers fitted when they're built.

"That's council by-laws, all new houses must have termite protection and most extensions should have termite protection.

"But when people are just doing home renovations they just seem to forget that and next thing they've got termites in.

"People decide to build in underneath their house and put concrete down and put a wall straight over the joints with no termite protection.

"Termites can make a nest under your slab; they can't come straight through the concrete, but wherever you've got a joint or wherever your posts are going through the concrete you'll have a crack or an easy access for them to come through.

"All posts should be treated to stop them coming up," he said.

So are all timbers vulnerable to termites?

Mr Kamerling explained that in his opinion all timber is vulnerable.

"It's mostly the softer pine timbers that they're attracted to.

"But once again with the big Mastotermes, they don't seem to care.

"A lot of people reckon cyprus is safe from it but I've seen them eating cyprus too."